Sometimes Diabetes Takes Center Stage

Diabetes Hero: Scared Every Day

May 20, 2012

Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”. It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3. It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be a d-celebrity or role-model. It could be another DOC member. It’s up to you – who is your Diabetes Hero??

Like Sara, I was ready to write about my friends in the DOC. I mean, I wouldn’t be here writing today if it weren’t for them, especially Kerri. But then I went to visit my grandmother this morning. When you’re diagnosed at three years old, you need to have people take care of you. It’s just how it works. I was still taken care of by my grandparents. I would have sleepovers. I would spend two days per week at the beach club. I went for sleepovers and weekends with my cousins. I was not old enough to care about my diabetes by myself. As I was testing this morning, my grandmother asked how I was, and unfortunately I was high. She told me how her & my other grandmother were talking one day. My other grandmother asked her how she felt when my sugars were out of range. Her response “I’m scared every single day.” I know that my family took over so I could still live my life. But I didn’t think about what they felt to do that. What it must’ve been like to see me in the hospital. What it must’ve been like to stab me with a needle multiple times per day. My parents did it. My grandparents did it. My aunts & uncles did it. My friends’ parents did it. The people in my life did all of this and put on a brave face to make my life be just that. My life. These are my heroes because I wouldn’t be here today with them.